Cherokee Tobacco: An Exceptional Value

Lately, I have been rolling cigarettes with Cherokee Mellow Blend Premium Pipe Tobacco produced by the Cherokee Tobacco Company of South Boston, Va. With Top 70mm papers, I find this makes a quite satisfactory non-filtered cigarette of exceptional value. Locally, this tobacco is available for $15.99 per pound and Top cigarette papers are currently $1.29 per one hundred. As a rule of thumb, six ounces of tobacco produces around two hundred cigarettes which is the equivalent of a carton. Thus, a carton of non-filtered cigarettes rolled with Cherokee tobacco costs $8.57. If filtered cigarettes are desired, top cigarette plugs are available locally for $1.29 per one hundred and this would increase the cost per carton to $11.15. The Cherokee Tobacco Company has a website (http://www.cherokeetobacco.com) but it is apparently under construction following an officious and unreasonable attack levied by the FDA: http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm237506.htm.

Kentucky Select Tobacco

Over the past few weeks, I've been rolling cigarettes from Kentucky Select Green Cigarette Tobacco (a menthol tobacco) and Kentucky Select Pipe Tobacco. Kentucky Select is made by U.S Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers, Inc. which is owned by the U.S. Tobacco Cooperative, Inc., a cooperative of tobacco farmers from Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida that was founded in 1946.

U.S Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers, Inc. produces 1839 Cigarettes (the winner of the 2008 Golden Leaf Award for Most Promising Product Introduction) and loose, roll your own (RYO) tobaccos in the 1839 and Kentucky Select product families. 1839 cigarette tubes are also available for make your own (MYO) applications (RYO refers to rolling cigarettes either by hand or with a roller while MYO refers to "stuffing" ready made, typically filtered, cigarette tubes with an injector).

Upon first examining the Kentucky Select Green and Pipe tobaccos, I noticed that each bag was labeled to proclaim: "You get more flavor, more tobacco taste, more quality, and much more for your money." With the cigarette tobacco priced at $15.99 (despite the draconian excises) and the pipe tobacco priced at $6.99 for six ounce bags, I was eager to try both products to see if they fulfilled this promise.

After rolling and smoking several packs of each, I noticed that neither tobacco had an over abundance of stems as I have discovered with other lower cost products. The Pipe Tobacco makes a smooth, mild cigarette that is almost too mild for my taste. The Green Cigarette Tobacco is satisfying but I find the menthol taste quite substantial; I would probably enjoy it more if I regularly smoked menthol cigarettes. Overall, I believe that Kentucky Select delivers upon the promise on the label and I find it to be a very good value.